Many Indians Still Parfar Commodities Over Feed Stamps
Dixon: August 23 is the target date for mailing $750 per capita checks to some 5 460 members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
The Tribal Council during the third quarterly meeting in Dixon July 5, voted to distribute 90 percent of the 1974 reservation revenue to members enrolled before August 1. Total receipts for the year amounted to a record $6,356,252. The fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends June 30.
The actual income from tribal programs for fiscal year
THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND'd ORIELLES
1974 was nearly $1.5 million over estimates. The projected income for the year was 4,943,511. Soaring stumpage prices for the forestry program accounted for most of the increase ....estimates for the year's returns on forestry were $3,528,000 while the actual forestry income amounted to $4,628,5 40.29 by year's end.
The Tribal Operating budget for 19.74 was $490,637 ....or a little more than eight percent of the actual returns. The PER CAPITA...(Cont. on page 19) AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
15 C
HARKÖOSTA
Volume 4 - Number 7 NEW MOON OF THE WILD ONION August 1,1974
*750 Per-Capita Checks To Be Mailed August 23
St. Ignatius: Some 200 Indian families had shown up at the Commodities Warehouse in St. Ignatius for monthly issues early last month. In the meantime, Lake County Welfare in Poison reported that 143 persons had been certified to receive Food Stamps.
The two nutritional aid programs....commodities which were given an apparent three year new life in June...and Food Stamps, a program designed to replace commodity food distribution by selling food coupons to needy persons at a discount....are now operating separately on the reservation.
The tribally operated Commodity Program had been given the axe last year and was to be replaced on July 1 by Food Stamps. Howevr . late in June, Congress responded to appeals by Indian tribes and states with Indian populations and extended the surplus food distribution plan for three years. During the first two weeks of July, Tribal Commodity Manager Charlie McDonald and his staff managed to scrounge up enough surplus items from commodity warehouses throughout the northwest to make a July issue. Distribution began on July 15 and by July 17 some 200 Indian families had received issues. McDonald speculated that by the end of the distribution period, July 19, most of the 400 Indian families from Lake and Sanders Counties who had been using commodities might continue with the program.
The commodity issue for July included 15 items. They were:
—Dry Beans . ---Egg Mix
—Margarine —Orange Juice
—Bulgar (a cereal) —Canned Chicken
—Rolled Wheat —Lunch Meat
—Macaroni ------Instant Milk
—Peanut Butter -----Rice
—Syrup ------Flour
—Corn Meal
McDonald said he did not know what items would be available for the August issue. He said the program would be operating on a hand to mouth basis for the next several months, but urged Indian people who wish to continue receiving com-
modities to keep in touch with his office.
Lake County Welfare Director, Bonnie Mueller, said that there was no way of telling how many of the 143 persons who had been certified for food stamps were Indian. She said that the food stamp certification and distribution process will be the same in August as it was in July. Persons wishing to receive food stamps must be certified at the County Welfare Office in Poison and pick up their stamps at the Poison Head Start Center.
As things stand, needy Indians living on reservations in Montana will have a month-to-month option of using either county food stamps or tribal commodities. That means that a person who received food stamps in July may switch over to commodities in August and then return to food stamps in September.
The Tribal Council and the Montana Inter-Tribal Policy Board hav e both endorsed the dual food assistance programs on reservations. The following is an exerpt from a letter written by the Montana Inter-Tribal Policy Board explaining their position on the Commodity-Food Stamp situation to the Montana Economic Assistance Division:
..........."The Montana Inter-Tribal Policy Board has in the
past opposed the imposition of the Food STamps Program, and the involuntary curtailment of the Commodities Distribution program.
It is conceivable that some Reservations may still be adamantly opposed to the Food Stamp Program. However, we feel this should be a decision made by the individual respective Tribal Councils involved. However, at the June 28,1974 meeting, it was decided that dual issuance (that is, both Commoditis and Food Stamps) would be requested and made an available option for at least a one year's period of time for all Reservations in the State. In behalf of the Montana Inter-Tribal Policy Board, we see no reason at this time to change, disagree or alter in any way the understandings reached at the June 28,1974, meeting."...........